Abstract

Abstract In Apocolocyntosis 13 the figure of Narcissus is not a minor character with a solely ornamental function but part of a complex play of echoes, repetitions, and similarities. Exploiting the fact that this particular freedman of Claudius was named Narcissus, Seneca turns the figure into a mirror image of Claudius and uses it to make subtle intertextual allusions. In this way, he destabilises the identities of Claudius and Narcissus to ridicule Claudius even further and expose him as a weak and cruel princeps who is unable to recognise himself.

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